Ts'khinvali, city in north central Georgia, capital of the autonomous region of South Ossetia. Ts'khinvali is located in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains on the Didi Liakhvi River, a tributary of Georgia's largest river, the Kura. The principal industry is electrical engineering. Other industries produce chemicals, processed food, textiles, and lumber. Ts'khinvali has road and airport connections with the Georgian capital Tbilisi to the southeast. A rail connection with Gori to the south links Ts'khinvali with the main east-west Transcaucasian railroad running from Samtredia in west central Georgia to Baku, Azerbaijan. A teacher-training institute and schools for agriculture, medicine, art, and music are located in Ts'khinvali. A regional history museum containing local artifacts is also here.
Ts'khinvali was officially designated a city in 1922, shortly after South Ossetia was declared an autonomous region within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), which became part of the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) later that year. During the late 1980s and early 1990s the city was the scene of heavy interethnic fighting between Ossetians and Georgians. Ts'khinvali was known as Staliniri from 1934 to 1961. Population (1989) 42,934.
